1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to information processing and, more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, a method for controlling the information processing apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing system has been discussed in which a plurality of host devices, such as personal computers, and a plurality of output devices, such as printers, are connected with each other via a local area network (LAN) in an office. In such a printing system, when the host device instructs the output device to perform printing, generally, after installation and initial setup are completed at the output device side, the host device registers the output device to be used and selects the registered device to perform printing. The initial setup for installing the output device includes filling of toner and ink, color calibration, and printer setup for connecting to the network. When an inkjet printer is used as the output device, for example, the initial setup includes an operation for correcting a head.
When the host device registers a printer serving as the output device, generally, the host device installs a printer driver and registers the printer to be used to associate with the printer driver using a setup program. The above-described printer driver is software for using the printer to be registered. In the registration of the printer, if the host device detects a plurality of printers in the network, a user of the host device needs to specify and select a printer the user wants to use from a list of the printers.
When a plurality of printers is detected in the network, as a method for specifying a target printer to be registered, a following method is discussed. More specifically, a setup program displays a list of pieces of address information about media access control (MAC) addresses and internet protocol (IP) addresses of the detected printers. A user can select the address information about the target printer to be registered from among the displayed pieces of the address information to specify the target printer.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-92761 discusses a network system to specify a printer to be operated as described below. More specifically, a user previously presses a mark button provided at the printer to operate. When a computer detects the printer in the network, the computer acquires information including a status of pressing the mark button, mark identification (ID), a user name, and so on, and represents them to the user. Based on the represented information, the user specifies the printer to operate.
However, the method in which the user selects the address information about the target printer to be registered from among the address information displayed by the setup program to specify the target printer may cause a problem as described below. The user needs to check the address information to select the address information about the target printer to be registered. More specifically, a display device such as a liquid crystal panel included in a printer body displays the address information, and then the user needs to perform troublesome tasks such as checking or printing the displayed address information. Further, some methods in which the user selects the printer to be registered based on a list of numerical values and alphabets included in the MAC addresses and the IP addresses of the printers can easily cause a human error.
According to a technique discussed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-92761, a user needs not only to press the mark button but also to perform a specific operation, for example, for setting the mark identification ID or the user name. Therefore, according to the technique discussed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-92761, the user cannot specify and register the target printer with easy operations. In recent years, inkjet printers that are low cost and can be connected to the network have been discussed, and various types of users have been using the printers in the network. Thus, it is necessary to specify the printer in the network and register it to the system with easier operations.